ESPNcricinfo
Bangladesh's confidence is eroding, according to T20I captain Mahmudullah, after they finished their white-ball tour of New Zealand with a stinging 65-run loss in the rain-reduced third T20I at Eden Park. They lost six matches in the space of 13 days, which was not ideal especially considering they arrived in the country after a 2-0 home Test series loss against West Indies.
Mahmudullah, who didn't play Thursday's game due to a strain on his left thigh, said that they couldn't take advantage of key moments in the second ODI in Christchurch and the second T20I in Napier, which could have salvaged this tour. They now have 12 days to recover before getting on the flight to Colombo from Dhaka, for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka starting on April 21.
"We need to change things around quickly," Mahmudullah said. "We badly need some wins under our belt in any format, as I think we are losing confidence in our team. At the end of the day, if you don't win it will create doubt about yourself and the whole team. We had a few chances in the second ODI. I think we were quite competitive in the second T20I. We need to think about a few moments (in those games) and then we need to be careful on capitalising on those occasions."
Mahmudullah attempted to put context into their performance by saying T20I teams like Australia have also struggled in New Zealand in recent years, and added that they can learn from this experience. But all said and done, Bangladesh have now lost 32 games against New Zealand in New Zealand.
"We knew that it will be difficult for us. Every team has a difficulty playing against the Kiwis. Recently, Australia had a tough time. We knew we had to be at our best in batting, bowling and fielding to beat the Kiwis.
